Comprehensive Essay on Population Census

The most fundamental source of data for the study of population is the population census. In fact, the very purpose of a census in modern times is to produce statistical data on various aspects of any population.

The word “census” is derived from the Latin word censure, meaning to value or tax. Actually, in ancient times, inventories of various segments of the population were prepared in order to identify persons who could be taxed, recruited for military service or forced to work.

Such limited motives restricted the scope of a census, and instead of covering the entire population, only heads of families, farmers, merchants, landlords, men in the age group suitable for military service, able-bodied men, etc., were enumerated.

As it was usually not in the interest of individuals to be counted or to supply correct information, the pre-modern enumerations were often incomplete and inaccurate.

In such a census, women and children were seldom included. The modern census, on the other hand, aims at enumerating each person.

History of Census-Taking ancient times, the system of census-taking prevailed in many countries, such as Egypt, Babylonia, India, China, Palestine and Rome.

Five thousand years ago, the Sumerians counted their population for taxation purposes. In ancient Egypt, enquiries were made about the occupations of the people.

In Biblical times, two censuses were undertaken, one by Moses in 1491 B.C. and the other by David in 1017 B.C. To commemorate the occasion, the Fourth Book of Moses was called ‘Numbers.’

In India, during the regime of Emperor Ashoka (270 B.C.-230 B.C.), census operations were often undertaken. In the third century B.C., the Arthashastra of Kautilya prescribed the collection of population statistics as a measure of State policy for the purpose of taxation.

In the sixteenth century, during the rule of Akbar, some population data were collected.

The Athenians and the Greeks took a census and carefully enumerated persons of military age when a danger of war was imminent, and counted the general population when threatened with food shortages.

William, the Conqueror, ordered an inventory of the land and the population of England in 1085-1086. A list of the owners of landed property and the nature and the size of their holdings was compiled in a book which was ironically called the “Doomsday Book.”

In 1449, the counting of each man, woman and child was undertaken in the city of Nuremberg when it was under siege, and the authorities desired to assess the situation for food supply.

Efforts to enumerate the total population were made in some parts of Switzerland in the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries. Louis XIV undertook a statistical survey in the provinces of France. The findings of this survey, however, were kept secret, and only their summary was disclosed twelve years after his death in 1727.

Thus it can be seen that in the earlier periods some sort of counting of the population was occasionally undertaken, but it was mainly for the purpose of taxation or conscription or for both.

Such counting was also sporadic in nature, as the operation was undertaken only when the need arose and was often limited to specific segments of the population.

The modern census differs completely from the early attempts at counting any population. The modern concept of a population census took shape only in the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries.

This concept involves a complete enumeration of the entire population and the collection of information about some important characteristics of each person at regular intervals with a view to obtaining knowledge about the trends in population growth and its structure and characteristics.

Efforts to undertake a complete census at regular intervals were first made in New France (Quebec) and Acadie (Nova ScotiaX. in 1665.

In these two provinces, complete enumeration of the population was done sixteen times during the period from 1665 to 1754. The first census of the United States of America was taken in 1790 and that of England in 1801.

As those responsible for it acquired experience, the census-taking techniques were refined. Gradually, people too began to appreciate the importance of a census, and they had less hesitation in answering the questions asked during a census operation, for they were convinced that the information given would be kept secret and would be used only for statistical purposes.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, census operations had come to stay in almost all European countries.

After the Second World War, the importance of population data was realised to a greater extent, and the United Nations began to assist several developing countries in various ways in the conduct of census operations.

As a result, these operations became more scientific, and several developing countries established permanent organisations for the purposes of a census. During the period 1965- 74, a total of 185 countries in the world conducted census operations.

Salient Features of a Population Census

A census implies that each individual is separately, but only once, enumerated, and that some important characteristics of each person are separately recorded.

These include sex, age, marital status, religion, literacy and educational attainment, economic activity, occupation, etc. The census covers a precisely defined territory, such as the entire country or a well-defined part of it.

A reference period is pre-determined for the enumeration and the entire population is counted with reference to that point of time. A census is taken at regular intervals.

In several countries, the interval between two successive censuses is ten years. From 1881 onwards, census in India has been taken at regular intervals of ten years. In some countries, however for example, the United Kingdom and Japan a census is conducted at an interval of five years.